I am very lucky to know so many amazingly talented bird photographers on Flickr! You all know how much I adore your pictures, the vast variety of bird species, in flight or perched on a branch. My biggest problem about taking pictures of birds is that I lack the patience to wait for them to land where I can take a picture, or else I cannot aim my camera fast enough to capture them in flight!

We have a 100-400mm telephoto lens, which is great for bird pictures, but it weighs almost as much as a truck so I rarely use it. However, today I decided to go outside and have a seat near our bird feeders and wait for them to forget about me and return to their eating. After about 10 minutes, back they came!

Lucky me! I got a nice picture of the bird I wanted most to capture, the beautiful Oregon Junco! This lovely male shown here is showing off his black upper body and creamy colored chest feathers. This distinction sets these birds apart from the much plainer parent species, the Dark-Eyed Junco. We see several types of Dark-Eyed Juncos here, but the Oregon sub-species are especially pretty! They begin showing up in about November and the last ones leave in about April or May. If you'd like to know more about these lovely little birds, Wiki has information here: Wikipedia: Dark-eyed Junco

Chinese proverbs are developed from the formulaic or social dialect/saying/expression and historical story in Chinese. Some proverbs are literary; that is, from a written source. Others originated among families, street vendors, and other commoners--all walks of life. ' Wikiquotes: Chinese Proverbs

Explored on Flickr on February 24, 2013. Highest position: #462.